Now keep in mind while reading this review that I LOVE Elvis Costello and I am a HUGE fan of his work.
Elvis Costello - Secret, Profane and Sugarcane (6/10)
Under normal circumstances, I would be extremely excited for a new Elvis Costello album, just as I was Monday perusing the scheduled new releases for the week, thinking to myself "Oh sweet, a new Costello album". My oh my, was I let down in a big big way.
This new album Secret, Profane and Sugarcane is entirely too twangy for my tastes, and I found myself halfway through thinking to myself "is it over yet?" These things should not go through my head when listening to an Elvis Costello album. The man is a legend and free to change it up for whatever reason he deems fit, but this seems to be a stretch from the days of "Alison" and the like. While there are some tracks that are quite good, the rest, for me, are moderately intolerable. I love the lead track "Among the Wines and Spirits" and "My All Time Doll" but the rest of the songs didn't really stand up and scream "HEY! NOTICE ME!!!!" I almost feel guilty giving such a low score to such a musical genius, but in fact, I gave him BONUS points for being the same. If I have one hope today while listening to this album, its that Taking Back Sunday's album is better for me to review tomorrow.
Tracks to check out:
"My All Time Doll"
"Among the Wines and Spirits"
Tomorrow's Review: Taking Back Sunday - New Again
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
New Music Review: June 2 Releases
This week I will be reviewing the following albums released the week of June 2nd.
WEDNESDAY: Elvis Costello - Secret, Profane and Sugarcane
THURSDAY: Taking Back Sunday - New Again
FRIDAY: Dave Matthews Band - Big Whiskey and The GrooGrux King
WEDNESDAY: Elvis Costello - Secret, Profane and Sugarcane
THURSDAY: Taking Back Sunday - New Again
FRIDAY: Dave Matthews Band - Big Whiskey and The GrooGrux King
Friday, May 29, 2009
New Music Review: Three For All!!! Grizzly Bear, Intelligence, and Phoenix
So it has been a VERY slow music week (except for Marilyn Manson and Busta Rhymes, both of which I gave a quick listen to and HATED both). As such, I've been listening feverishly to three albums all week. Grizzly Bear Veckatimest, Intelligence Fake Surfers, and Phoenix Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix. I also have been trying (unsuccessfully) to get my hands on a copy of the debut album from Crash Kings, and based on previews from myspace, Amazon, and iTunes, would probably garner a 10 from me. As such, on with your Friday Three-For-All.
Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix (9.5/10)
This is by far the best of the three albums that I have been enjoying. From the lead track "Liztomania" to the end track "Armistice" this is the best thing to come from France since....ummm....maybe ever (ok, so Air was a decend band and one of the guys in Phoenix was in a band called Darlin' with the two guys from Daft Punk, whom are also French). The fourth studio album from Phoenix is admittedly the first one I've listened to, but will definitely not be the last. It does get a little lenghty in the middle with the 7:29 Love is Like a Sunset, of which the first nearly six and a half minutes is instrumental. Beyond that, it is as fantastic as fantastic goes. Also, check out "1901" and "Lasso"
Grizzly Bear - Veckatimest (9/10)
2009 South by Southwest (SXSW) standouts Grizzly Bear unleashed a monster when the released Veckatimest, the third studio album from the Brooklyn, NY quartet. Described by most as an indie, experimental-folk rock by many, their new album shows that they are no stranger to any and all genres and apparently had no clocks or timers in the studio, with the average song checking in on this album at right around four and a half minutes. Each song is quite epic in its own little way, but this album shines as a whole, flowing seamlessly from one track to the next, of which you know I am a sucker for, and any band who pulls this off gets automatic bonus points in scoring with me. Check out the tracks "Dory", "Cheerleader" and "Two Weeks"
Intelligence - Fake Surfers (9/10)
Studio album number four from the lo-fi side project of A-Frames drummer Lars Finberg. I really, really, really enjoyed this album from the aspect of its different un-Seattle-like sound. Lars doesn't do anything really overly fancy, just puts together a fantastic freakin' indie animal capable of both lulling you into a hypnotic trance "Fake Surfers" and making you then get up an dance "St. Bartholemew" until Lars snaps his fingers and you return to your previous state of normality. He also can get a little punk with the fantastically titled "Fuck Eat Skull". This album also flows surprisingly well and made for a pleasant surprise of an album as a whole in what was a slow music week.
Thank the Lord that next week is a busier music week, with the new Dave Matthews Band, 311, and Taking Back Sunday albums scheduled to drop on 6/2. Stay tuned to New Music Tuesday to see my selections for the week!
Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix (9.5/10)
This is by far the best of the three albums that I have been enjoying. From the lead track "Liztomania" to the end track "Armistice" this is the best thing to come from France since....ummm....maybe ever (ok, so Air was a decend band and one of the guys in Phoenix was in a band called Darlin' with the two guys from Daft Punk, whom are also French). The fourth studio album from Phoenix is admittedly the first one I've listened to, but will definitely not be the last. It does get a little lenghty in the middle with the 7:29 Love is Like a Sunset, of which the first nearly six and a half minutes is instrumental. Beyond that, it is as fantastic as fantastic goes. Also, check out "1901" and "Lasso"
Grizzly Bear - Veckatimest (9/10)
2009 South by Southwest (SXSW) standouts Grizzly Bear unleashed a monster when the released Veckatimest, the third studio album from the Brooklyn, NY quartet. Described by most as an indie, experimental-folk rock by many, their new album shows that they are no stranger to any and all genres and apparently had no clocks or timers in the studio, with the average song checking in on this album at right around four and a half minutes. Each song is quite epic in its own little way, but this album shines as a whole, flowing seamlessly from one track to the next, of which you know I am a sucker for, and any band who pulls this off gets automatic bonus points in scoring with me. Check out the tracks "Dory", "Cheerleader" and "Two Weeks"
Intelligence - Fake Surfers (9/10)
Studio album number four from the lo-fi side project of A-Frames drummer Lars Finberg. I really, really, really enjoyed this album from the aspect of its different un-Seattle-like sound. Lars doesn't do anything really overly fancy, just puts together a fantastic freakin' indie animal capable of both lulling you into a hypnotic trance "Fake Surfers" and making you then get up an dance "St. Bartholemew" until Lars snaps his fingers and you return to your previous state of normality. He also can get a little punk with the fantastically titled "Fuck Eat Skull". This album also flows surprisingly well and made for a pleasant surprise of an album as a whole in what was a slow music week.
Thank the Lord that next week is a busier music week, with the new Dave Matthews Band, 311, and Taking Back Sunday albums scheduled to drop on 6/2. Stay tuned to New Music Tuesday to see my selections for the week!
Friday, May 22, 2009
New Music Review: Mat Kearney "City of Black and White"
Mat Kearney is a Nashville based singer/songwriter who has witnessed his popularity skyrocket thanks to his tunes appearing on ABC's Grey's Anatomy, ABC Family's Kyle XY, and (at the time) NBC's Scrubs. His new album City of Black and White was recorded at Blackbird Studios in Nashville. He has begun touring this month with Keane and The Helio Sequence.
Mat Kearney - City of Black and White (7.5/10)
Don't get me wrong, the 7.5 score for Kearney's new album isn't because it isn't any good, because it is. He probably would have received an 8.5 or 9 if he didn't sound so much like Chris fucking Martin from Coldplay. Honestly, I would probably like Coldplay more if Martin, his wife, and their fruit-based children moved to Cambodia and Kearney took his place. Enough ranting, we're here to praise Mat Kearney and his fantastic new effort, not dis Chris Martin and his band The Song-Stealing 4 err, Coldplay.
City of Black and White sounds just as I described it earlier, like the B side of a Coldplay album. All of the songs flow fantastically well. The lead single "Closer to Love" brings all the pieces of who Mat Kearney is together into one neat little package and the rest of the album ties it off with a tiny bow. No one track really stands out to any great degree, with the one glaring exception of "Fire and Rain", which will stop you dead in your tracks and make you listen much like watching a NASCAR race for the crashes. There isn't really anything special about it, but the arrangement is too good to ignore. The first time I listened through it, I paid particular attention to each song, and was kind of....eh. Once I listened a second, and third time, I found myself motivated and moving about doing other things (such as getting dressed for work). It is one of those albums you could put on for a drive to Kalamazoo to make the trip seem shorter and provide a pleasant backdrop for random conversation and a soundtrack for the boring spots such as the part just past Albion before Battle Creek where its all farm-y and not much to look at.
Gut response to the album would have given it a 4 or 5 score, but luckily for Mat Kearney, I don't score based on my gut, and gave it a few more listens for flow and arrangement, and to see if I missed anything of relative potential epic-ness. Unfortunately for Mat, those additional listens turned me off to the fact that he sounds way too much like Chris Martin for me and if I heard any of this on the radio, I'd turn it off for fear that I would like a Coldplay song.
Tomorrow: SATURDAY!!! I will (try) to give a brief review of the NEW Our Lady Peace single being released tonight at 5 on MuchMusic (Canada) and MSN Canada. Also, while I'm at it, this weekend may feature reviews of Passion Pit, Jason Lytle, and White Rabbits.
Mat Kearney - City of Black and White (7.5/10)
Don't get me wrong, the 7.5 score for Kearney's new album isn't because it isn't any good, because it is. He probably would have received an 8.5 or 9 if he didn't sound so much like Chris fucking Martin from Coldplay. Honestly, I would probably like Coldplay more if Martin, his wife, and their fruit-based children moved to Cambodia and Kearney took his place. Enough ranting, we're here to praise Mat Kearney and his fantastic new effort, not dis Chris Martin and his band The Song-Stealing 4 err, Coldplay.
City of Black and White sounds just as I described it earlier, like the B side of a Coldplay album. All of the songs flow fantastically well. The lead single "Closer to Love" brings all the pieces of who Mat Kearney is together into one neat little package and the rest of the album ties it off with a tiny bow. No one track really stands out to any great degree, with the one glaring exception of "Fire and Rain", which will stop you dead in your tracks and make you listen much like watching a NASCAR race for the crashes. There isn't really anything special about it, but the arrangement is too good to ignore. The first time I listened through it, I paid particular attention to each song, and was kind of....eh. Once I listened a second, and third time, I found myself motivated and moving about doing other things (such as getting dressed for work). It is one of those albums you could put on for a drive to Kalamazoo to make the trip seem shorter and provide a pleasant backdrop for random conversation and a soundtrack for the boring spots such as the part just past Albion before Battle Creek where its all farm-y and not much to look at.
Gut response to the album would have given it a 4 or 5 score, but luckily for Mat Kearney, I don't score based on my gut, and gave it a few more listens for flow and arrangement, and to see if I missed anything of relative potential epic-ness. Unfortunately for Mat, those additional listens turned me off to the fact that he sounds way too much like Chris Martin for me and if I heard any of this on the radio, I'd turn it off for fear that I would like a Coldplay song.
Tomorrow: SATURDAY!!! I will (try) to give a brief review of the NEW Our Lady Peace single being released tonight at 5 on MuchMusic (Canada) and MSN Canada. Also, while I'm at it, this weekend may feature reviews of Passion Pit, Jason Lytle, and White Rabbits.
Thursday, May 21, 2009
New Music Review: Jarvis Cocker "Further Complications"
For those that do not know, you can play six degrees of separation with Jarvis Cocker and Dr. Dre. Jarvis Cocker is the former lead singer of the band Pulp, who had a mid-90s hit with "Common People", a song that was covered by William Shatner. Shatner's album Has Been was produced by Ben Folds, who did a cover of the song "Bitches Ain't Shit", a classic rap track by Dr. Dre. What does this have to do with Cocker's new album Further Complications? Nothing really, just really cool.
Jarvis Cocker - Further Complications (9.5/10)
First off, I would like to announce that I LOVE this album. Cocker's delivery and voice allow him to present the fantastic laid back vibe throughout most of this album, but dial it up and rock it out, UK style when needed for his newest effort, Further Complications. Apparently fueled by sex and the desire of a woman (or several), Cocker's tuned up, rock tracks, reminecient of Elvis Costello, include "Angela" a song proclaiming his love for a 23-year old named....yep, Angela. "Homewrecker" turns up the horn section for a moment, and "fuckingsong" introduces a chainsaw-esque intro, grinding distorted guitars, and a request to be turned on. The album gets a little strange with "Caucasian Blues" beginning with the lyrics "you find a good woman/then fuck her 'till her head falls off". Apparently, Cocker feels the need to discuss how difficult it is to be white these days. The album slows down for two final mellow, and LONG tracks (one of them could have fit with the '77 disco scene entitled "You're In My Eyes") at the end, both are no doubt great, but could have stood to be a few minutes shorter.
My favorite track by far is "Further Complications", the title and lead track for the album, and is what I would call the epitome of Cocker's album, a fantastic installment to his career, proving that he can get it done with or without his mates in Pulp.
Tomorrow: Mat Kearney City of Black and White
Jarvis Cocker - Further Complications (9.5/10)
First off, I would like to announce that I LOVE this album. Cocker's delivery and voice allow him to present the fantastic laid back vibe throughout most of this album, but dial it up and rock it out, UK style when needed for his newest effort, Further Complications. Apparently fueled by sex and the desire of a woman (or several), Cocker's tuned up, rock tracks, reminecient of Elvis Costello, include "Angela" a song proclaiming his love for a 23-year old named....yep, Angela. "Homewrecker" turns up the horn section for a moment, and "fuckingsong" introduces a chainsaw-esque intro, grinding distorted guitars, and a request to be turned on. The album gets a little strange with "Caucasian Blues" beginning with the lyrics "you find a good woman/then fuck her 'till her head falls off". Apparently, Cocker feels the need to discuss how difficult it is to be white these days. The album slows down for two final mellow, and LONG tracks (one of them could have fit with the '77 disco scene entitled "You're In My Eyes") at the end, both are no doubt great, but could have stood to be a few minutes shorter.
My favorite track by far is "Further Complications", the title and lead track for the album, and is what I would call the epitome of Cocker's album, a fantastic installment to his career, proving that he can get it done with or without his mates in Pulp.
Tomorrow: Mat Kearney City of Black and White
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
New Music Review: Eminem "Relapse"
ed. note: Due to complications in the availability of Carbon Leaf's Nothing Rhymes with Woman I have pushed up the Eminem review to today, and will be replacing the Carbon Leaf album with Jason Lytle's Yours Truly, The Commuter. I will attempt to review Carbon Leaf if I can find it. Also, I'm going to try to fit Passion Pit's Manners and White Rabbit's It's Frightening this week too. It was a busy busy week for new music.
Now, on with the Review.
Eminem - Relapse (10/10)
Ok, it's been a very long time since we've heard from Marshall Mathers, in any one of his incantations. After his hiatus, he returns with relapse, and the perhaps the wildest of his personalities, Slim Shady.
Some of the more conservative readers have probably already stopped reading, but Relapse is the Slim Shady album everyone knew Eminem could pull off. Keeping the leash short fresh out of rehab. He still pulls off the celeb-bashing, mom hating rants and raves, but now there is much more onus on him, discussing his demons and how they've haunted him while he's been away.
The skits retain more hilarity, including his attorney reminding Em that Christopher Reeves is dead and claiming "..and the whole gay stepfather, incest, rape thing? I don't have your back on this. I can't fucking handle it"
The music (which is the point of a music review) is FANTASTIC. The first two tracks address to key issues with Mathers; "3am" (drug addiction and rehab), and "My Mom" (FINALLY acknowledging that he and his mother are the same). Of course there is the celeb bashing lead single "We Made You", a fantastic song to lead with, flashing Eminem's brilliance in both flow and delivery, mixed in with traditional Shady antics. Then comes THE song of the album, "Old Times Sake" which features a drop in from the legendary Dr. Dre. That song turns the tide of the album to a more mature flow the likes of which has yet to be heard from Marshall Mathers, ever.
The entire album is fantastic and worth the wait that Marshall put his fans through (although the hiatus was much needed for Em's health and sanity). I'm hoping that this album is the beginning of a new era of Eminem's fantastic career.
Tomorrow: Jarvis Cocker - Further Complications
Now, on with the Review.
Eminem - Relapse (10/10)
Ok, it's been a very long time since we've heard from Marshall Mathers, in any one of his incantations. After his hiatus, he returns with relapse, and the perhaps the wildest of his personalities, Slim Shady.
Some of the more conservative readers have probably already stopped reading, but Relapse is the Slim Shady album everyone knew Eminem could pull off. Keeping the leash short fresh out of rehab. He still pulls off the celeb-bashing, mom hating rants and raves, but now there is much more onus on him, discussing his demons and how they've haunted him while he's been away.
The skits retain more hilarity, including his attorney reminding Em that Christopher Reeves is dead and claiming "..and the whole gay stepfather, incest, rape thing? I don't have your back on this. I can't fucking handle it"
The music (which is the point of a music review) is FANTASTIC. The first two tracks address to key issues with Mathers; "3am" (drug addiction and rehab), and "My Mom" (FINALLY acknowledging that he and his mother are the same). Of course there is the celeb bashing lead single "We Made You", a fantastic song to lead with, flashing Eminem's brilliance in both flow and delivery, mixed in with traditional Shady antics. Then comes THE song of the album, "Old Times Sake" which features a drop in from the legendary Dr. Dre. That song turns the tide of the album to a more mature flow the likes of which has yet to be heard from Marshall Mathers, ever.
The entire album is fantastic and worth the wait that Marshall put his fans through (although the hiatus was much needed for Em's health and sanity). I'm hoping that this album is the beginning of a new era of Eminem's fantastic career.
Tomorrow: Jarvis Cocker - Further Complications
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
New Music Day! Preview of the Upcoming Week
Allrighty then, it's New Music Day! Upcoming this week on the blog reviews:
Wednesday: Carbon Leaf - Nothing Rhymes With Woman
Thursday: Jarvis Cocker - Further Complications
Friday: Eminem - Relapse
Monday: Mat Kearney - City of Black and White
I'm wicked stoked to get to the Eminem album, but we shall see where it goes.
Wednesday: Carbon Leaf - Nothing Rhymes With Woman
Thursday: Jarvis Cocker - Further Complications
Friday: Eminem - Relapse
Monday: Mat Kearney - City of Black and White
I'm wicked stoked to get to the Eminem album, but we shall see where it goes.
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